They try to avoid using the words "us" or "them," though it is often unavoidable.

They don't like to say they only represent "seniors," though the word is built into their name.

They say their target is not "the Orthodox" but the way business is done in Lakewood.

"What we want is transparency in how decisions are made here," said Tom Gatti, chairman of the Senior Actions Group (SAG).

As the African-American population in Lakewood dwindles and Hispanic activism has been quieted because of immigration concerns, the town's senior citizens have emerged as the most vocal opposition to the power structure in Lakewood.

They show up in force at township board meetings. They volunteer for advisory committees. They have get-out-and-vote campaigns, though they don't endorse candidates. They have a website: www.saginc.org

"We just want people to be informed," Gatti said. "Then they can make their own decisions about the kind of town they want."

And now SAG is branching out to surrounding towns. They have representatives in Toms Rivers and Brick, and they're lining up people in Howell and Jackson, communities with significant senior populations.

"We've been going to their HOA (homeowners associations)," said Mike McLaughlin, a SAG board member. "The message we have isn't just relative to seniors, it's relative to all taxpayers. When you've seen what's gone on in Lakewood, anyone paying taxes should be concerned."

"When we (seniors) moved in to Lakewood, we moved into their (an Orthodox-run) town," Gatti said. "But in these other towns, the Orthodox are moving into their towns, and if they want to avoid what's happening in Lakewood, they have to organize, pay attention to what's going on and vote."

What's happening in Lakewood has been unbridled growth of housing and private schools to accommodate the burgeoning population of Haredi Jews coming in from Brooklyn, Israel, Canada and various sections of the United States.

The American community of ultra-Orthodox Jews numbers about 700,000, and a full 10 percent of that number now live in Lakewood, according to Ben Heinemann, a member of the Vaad, a leading group of rabbis and businessmen who are immersed in Lakewood's religious, civic and commercial affairs.

"The fact is they're outgrowing Lakewood," Gatti said. "Drive through the first two miles of Howell and it looks like Lakewood."

Last year, Toms River enacted a five-year ban on door-to-door real estate solicitation in the North Dover area that borders Lakewood. Also in 2016, an Asbury Park Press story revealed that in one Jackson Township cul-de-sac, 11 of the 20 homes were sold within a year, six of them to investors or developers from the Lakewood Orthodox community.

What's also happening in Lakewood is new scrutiny by law enforcement and the press.

In July, an insurance company brought a lawsuit against Yeshiva Gedola, saying it illegally housed 27 male students between the ages of 19 and 21 in a single-family house that burned down in February. The men were living in a basement dormitory.

"It was miracle nobody was killed," Gatti said. "But we got that going on all over town. They build single family houses, but people are living in the basement."

Earlier this summer, state and county officials charged 26 people with various counts of stealing $2 million in public assistance benefits.

In the spring, the Lakewood school district warned county and state officials it could no longer provide a "thorough and efficient" education, as mandated by the New Jersey Constitution, mostly because of the high costs of both special education and transportation for the 30,000 private school students in the Orthodox community. The 6,000-student public district bears the $59 million cost for the special education and busing of private school students.

In March, Rabbi Osher Eisemann, the owner of Lakewood's largest and most expensive special education school was charged by the state for funneling $630,000 of taxpayer-paid tuition funds into the school's foundation accounts for personal use. Eisemann's School for Children with Hidden Intelligence (SCHI) charges school-year tuitions in the $100,000-range, depending on a student's need.

In February, a beeper store owner, Yisroel Malamud, pleaded guilty to laundering $3.5 million in cash from customers to third parties. Such schemes are used to hide assets from the Internal Revenue Service.

But long before any of this, a group of people in two retirement communities in the south end of Lakewood began unofficial probes of their own.

It began with an Orthodox school for troubled boys at 1536 Massachusetts Ave., not far from The Enclave and Fairways senior complexes.

"There were a half-dozen trailers back there and the kids were running wild. They were creating a nuisance," Gatti said. "I almost hit one on two different occasions. I had to slam on my brakes. We had a motorcyclist killed up there."

A group of people from the senior developments got together to ask that the school be moved. What followed was a crash course in how development is done in Lakewood, with a roster of the players.

"It started with a land swap to get the school out of here," Gatti said. "It took five years, and what we learned at that point was this town is run by Orthodox developers and private school owners, and they get whatever they want."

SAG members say in the time they've been following Lakewood zoning and building issues, there have been 89 changes to the housing density rules - and all allow for more building and more people, stressing the infrastructure, especially the roads.

"You can sit at Cross Street and Route 9 for three or four light changes before the traffic even moves," Gatti said. "And it's only going to get worse."

"There is no real master plan here," said Vin Perito, another SAG board member. "How can you have a town of this size, with this kind of growth, and no master plan? The developers are doing whatever they want."

When the SAG members gathered to fight the school, they realized something else.

"We have a lot of firepower in these (age-restricted) communities," Gatti said.

He means both in experience and numbers. His board includes Rob Robison who was a Marine officer and the former town manager in Roselle and Atlantic Highlands, and John McCrossan, a former Bernardsville councilman and a Fortune 500 company IT executive.

Denise Gregory was a consultant for Fortune 100 companies and nonprofit boards. Gatti ran two media companies, which both sold for billions. Steve Pardes is an attorney. Al Longo has a doctorate in education. Jim Campbell was a schools' superintendent.

"Collectively, we have enormous experience," Gatti said.

And then there is the strength in numbers. There are 14,000 senior citizens in Lakewood living in eight age-restricted complexes. Eight thousand, five hundred live in just Leisure Village and Leisure Village East.

The SAG members recognized that people who retired to Ocean County are not apt to get involved in local politics. Many are content to just relax, socialize, golf and enjoy their golden years. But SAG members see Lakewood as a cautionary tale.

At a 350-resident senior complex called A Country Place in Lakewood, there is an active lawsuit over segregated swimming hours. As the Orthodox became the majority in the complex, the board changed the pool rules prohibiting men and women to swim together.